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Salt Test Advice (update-new codes/problems)

I purchased a new/used home in october and I am just now trying to bring my Jandy 1400 SWG online. I have kept the pool up all winter with liquid chlorine, muriatic acid, kept it clean, chemical fairly balanced, etc. The Jandy SWG was set to 0.0% as per the manual to keep the chlorine generator off.

So I just cleaned the unit in muriatic acid and cleaned the flow/temp/Salinity sensor as per the manual. I started the filter and everything powered up and looks Ok.
After I let everything run for 15 minutes or so, the service light is on with code 144 low salt. It reads about 1.1 g/L on the LCD. About a month ago I went to the Pool store for a test and they recommended I add about 100 lbs of salt, which I did.

So here is my dilemma. Do I go by the cheap salt test strips or the Jandy LCD? I assume the pool store (I cannot remember) was calculating the salt required to get to 2.5 g/L, which is where the Salt test strips say I am at.

Depending on which reading I use, 1.1 or 2.4 g/L, there is a huge difference on how much salt to add to my 20,000 gallon pool.

How often to the Flow/Temp/Salinity sensors go bad? (my pool is approx 8 years old)
How accurate are the Pools Store Salt tests?

I figure I am just going to add somewhere about half of what is recommended on the salt chart for a 1.1 g/L reading and see what the Jandy LCD reads.

Re: Salt Test Advice (updated)

Installed 4 bags of salt to bring level up to about 3000 ppm. After 24 hours fired up the SWG. No change in what Jandy control panel was reading for Salinity (it read 1.2 g/l).

So I did the front board test as per the trouble shooting manual.

While still pressing the test buttons press the ‘Salinity’key (‘C’) on the front cover of the unit. showed 2.8 g/l, passed
While still holding the two front board test buttons press the ‘Pool Temperature’key (‘D’). It should read 75°F or 24°C. Showed 74 degrees, passed.

Next, press and hold the board ‘H-Temp’test button, and at the same time press the ‘Salinity’key (‘C’) together with the ‘Chlorine Production Rate’arrow down key (‘A’) on the front cover of the unit. The LCD should read 91°F or 33°C. Unit beeped and flashed HH code, failed

So I decided to take the leap and calibrate the salinity reading. Followed the instructions and reset the salinity to match the 3000 ppm of the pool. The low salt reading went away and the cell light showed as working.

Well as luck would have it, 15 minutes later service code 121 came on. I previoulsy have cleaned the cell with acid, so the next step is to check voltages as per manual. I am running the unit every day to see what the chlorine levels do. Cell is on but not sure if it is generating chlorine.

So I have read here some folks change the flow/temp/salinity sensor with a code 121. Others have cleaned the unit and have the code clear. Still others have replaced the cell to fix it.

I have one failed test on the front board, the salinity calibration I did tells me the flow/temp/salinity sensor is probably bad, and I figure my old SWG unit has got to be on its last legs. I am not going to spend $200 for a flow/temp/salinity sensor when I can get the sensor with a new cell for under $500 (I can re-plump it).

Any way, I thought I would update where I was at in my trouble shooting attempts.

Re: Salt Test Advice (update 6/2 Jandy SWG issues)

Have been running the Jandy SWG with code 121 for a few days to see if any chlorine was being generated. Hard to tell, weather has been cool (mid 70's) and not much sun. Chlorine levels dropping very slowly. Test results from 5/28:

FC 2
CC .5
PH 7.6
TA 110
CYA 70CH 450
salt 2800 ppm

So I added a gallon of chlorine (should bring FC up to about 6 or 7) and decided to work on getting my TA down a bit. Been adding MA each day to try and keep PH in the lower 7's.

Last Saturday (5-28) I pulled the Jandy 1400 for another look and MA bath. On closer inspection of the unit after the MA bath, using a magnifying glass (I am over 50, my eyes are going) I could see that the unit was completely plugged with calcium deposits. The previous owner probably ran the unit for years with out cleaning (unit probably did not work either). The MA bath was basically doing nothing. So I figured I did not have much to lose and grabbed a piece of brazing rod and starting chipping away the calcium between the plates. There was flow down the center of the unit but the plates (about 1/8 inch apart) on the edge of the unit were basically 100% plugged. After an hour of poking , chipping and prying with the brazing rod, I did not make much progress. Another quick MA bath did almost nothing. I now had about 10% if plates open. So figuring it was a lost cause I decided to take drastic measures and hit the unit with my power washer. It is a small electric unit that does not have much water flow but it does generate a pretty high pressure spray (with a spinning nozzle/tip). Low and behold, some of the calcium deposits began to dislodge and blow out of the plates. Back to the garage for more welding rod work, and another quick MA bath, back to the power washer, about an hour of this and I had 90% of the plates cleared. Of course I figured this kind of abuse was probably termial to the SWG, but I was going to have to get a new one anyway.

So I popped the unit back in, fired it up. 20 minutes later it showed the cell was working (as before) but I was getting the same code 121 error. I checked the voltage at the unit and it showed 36 V (should be 12-24V). Same result before I did the extreme cleaning.

I continued to let the unit run 3 hours a day, monitored the FC and PH with the quick tests (still trying to lower my TA down to the 90 range or so). My FC was 5+ and I added a little MA each day to keep my PH at about 7.2-7.3. Wednesday (6/1) the FC showed about 4 ppm, PH about 7.4. Added a little MA.

Thursday (6/2) I did the quick check, FC was 5+ (much darker yellow) and PH was about 7.3. So I was puzzled about the chlorine going up and did the accurate test :

FC 6.5
CC 0.5

The cholorine levels did go up. Turned on the filter/SWG for an hour or so, checked the unit, no codes, cell, was on, all green lights. (have not check the voltage yet). Wow, my unit appears to be working after the extreme cleaning I did. Going to do the whole gammit of tests tonight and see how TA is doing. I am hopefull my unit is back online for the summer, but I also realize that a new SWG and sensor will be needed in the near future.

Anyway, I think my advice here is to look closely at the plates when cleaning SWG units. I really had to look hard before I realized just how badly the unit was plugged with calcium. There is very little space between the plates on my Jandy unit. Once I go to a new unit, I am going to watch for calcium build up very closey. I figure if you stay on top of the issue, the unit will work and last longer. Calcium build up may not be an big issue for some, but it sure seems to be in my set up.